You Deserve That Much
by BishoujoJade
Summary: Late a night when Kagome can't sleep, her soul leads her to place, no one would expect her....


She had wandered here this night, slipping out quietly from under her husband's embrace. She found herself her, it was in the aftermath of a nightmare. A nightmare so dark that, even the gentle grumble of her hanyou's breathing, which always calmed her nerves, had no effect. Drenched with sweat and foreboding thoughts that seemed tangible in the air above her, she knew she needed to escape; to run.

Without reason or heed, she ran aimlessly through the vegetation of the outer forest and across the meadow until she found herself at the former point of the well, which now stood as the location of Kikyo's final resting place. They had chose this place because without the well, Kagome wouldn't have traveled the planes of time to arrive here, thus Kikyo would have stayed a distant memory in everyone's lives.

As she approached the small boulder that marked Kikyo's grave she slowed her pace until marker laid right before her. She fought every instinct she had to turn around and run, return to the arms of her husband and seek the amity she craved there, but she knew better. Releasing a soft sigh while hiking the hem of her long sleeping kosode up, she slowly ascended to the terrain. Still not sure why her heart led her here, she took a seat, bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, to knock of the chill of the late spring night.

Kagome did everything she could not to look directly at Kikyo's marker, letting her eyes wander around the familiar area, homespun memories slipping quietly in and out of the recesses of her mind. She felt herself calming, not realizing she was still dank from earlier, her breath slowing from its quick pace. Kagome, absently in her musing, let her hand wander down the exposed skin of her leg, it causally slipping to the ground until it accidentally landed on the boulder marking Kikyo's grave.

She braved a look down, realization to where her hand had landed dawning on her. Closing her eyes, Kagome let her hand rest there, drawing up the will to speak.

"Kikyo?" Kagome sighed.

_I'm speaking to a grave marker, as if it will speak back. Well...stranger things have happened._

"I-...I don't know if you can hear me Kikyo. But as I was just telling myself, the lot of us have seen and heard stranger things. Who is to say that you can hear me. I'll just believe that you can." Kagome ran her hand across the smooth stone of the marker, still marveling how even in death Kikyo managed to surround herself in the air of refinement and quality. Something pulled at Kagome's soul as she caressed the stone, something telling her to just let go.

So she did.

"I hope that you are resting well, Kikyo. Its been almost four years since you passed on. Whether I want to admit it or not, I'm so very sad that you weren't there to witness Naraku's death. You deserved that victory just as much as the rest of us, if not more. You deserved that Kikyo...."

Kagome paused in reflection again. "But that's not why I came here. I had a dream tonight, a very bad dream. It didn't involve me, or InuYasha, or any of my other loved ones. So you probably wonder to why I say it was bad. Well...It....It was about you. You were in a dark room, a dark place...I couldn't tell. But I could see you were the only light. But you were alone, and you were crying. I'd never seen you cry. You were always a pillar of strength, a mighty thing to behold. But tonight in my dream you were sad."

Pulling her hand away from the marker, she wrapped her hands again around her knees, pulling them closer to her body. "I had begun to think you were without emotion, save that of anger. Then I realized what you must have been feeling, the torrent of emotions you dealt with everyday. Resurrected, grateful for your life, but grieving all alone, the only man you loved, frolicking around with me, your reincarnation. Its tragic now that I think of it." Running her hand up and down her legs, she realized just how chilly the night air was, but she was determined to have this conversation.

"But every time a tear fell from her eyes, the pain in my chest would tighten. And it took a minute, but I began to realize that we still share the same soul, and your pain was my pain, your happiness was mines. But then....you began to fade, and it frightened me. It frightened me because I never got the chance to tell you, that without you, there would not have been a me. That I wouldn't have this wonderful life with a wonderful hanyou we both so truly love."

"I just...just wanted you to know that. That you aren't forgotten. You are apart of me, regardless that your physical body is resting. I owe you a piece of my happiness Kikyo. Thank you...."

Kagome turned to the market, then letting her hand glow with a subtle tint of pink, she touched the stone, and be it her imagination or reality, she thought she heard a soft sigh come from the stone. At that Kagome smiled; pushing back on her hands to lift her up from the ground.

"I'll take care of our hanyou, Kikyo. That I can promise you."

Kagome turned to the path she came, only to find a shadow stood where open road should have.

"You worried me, koi. I woke up to find an empty bed where my wife should have been sleeping." The shadow continued forward until the light from the moon pushed it away, revealing InuYasha.

"How long have you been coming here?" Kagome searched his face. She would be surprised but yet not surprised to find anger on his face, due to the fact that Kikyo was a secret dwelling for his soul, not his wife's. But she was pleased when she found the traces of pure curiosity.

"My soul called me here. To speak with her." Kagome paced towards her husband, eager for his arms and embrace. "You aren't upset are you?"

InuYasha waited patiently as his wife approached him, his eyes trained onto her approaching figure. The closer she drew, the softer his apperance became and he anticipated her warm proximity. Finally he was able to slide his hands around her waist, drawing her closer to him.

"No, not upset, just..... You disappearing on me...it worried me that's all."

Kagome wanted to tell him that she felt she needed to do this, almost as if she had no choice. That this had provided her with a liberating voyage to solace, a place where she could garner a moment alone, without prying eyes, or eager ears. A place where no one would expect her.

"I'm glad you could talk to her." InuYasha eyes softened as he looked down at his miko. "I...I come down here and talk to her all the time. Maybe she'd say a prayer for our family. One for our friends. One for our love."

When Kagome returning smile radiated understanding, the smile left his eyes and fell on his lips. "Lets go home, Kagome."

Home sounded nice. As her husband unwrapped himself and slid his hand into her, guiding her towards the village, she fancied a look back at the marker, and smiled.

_Thank you Kikyo. For my happiness...._

**_AN:_ Short little one shot, dedicated to our fallen Miko, Kikyo. **


End file.
